


Devotee

by JjdoggieS



Series: All Is Calm, All Is Bright [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Christmas Shopping, Cute, F/M, Ficmas, Ficmas 2020, Fluff, Harcest Ficmas, Harcest Ficmas 2020, I hope this is cute, Shopping, Who knows??, and is a hopeless romantic, ben is trying his best, benya needs more love guyss, but isn't quite sure how, he wants to make vanya happy, i think, kind of surprise ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27872869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: What do you get when your girlfriend constantly is telling you and everyone else that she doesn't want a gift? You enlist the help of your friends, which are also her friends, and end up having more than one present, all of them equally as good as the last. And you end up back at square one of course!Harcest Ficmas: Day 4 - Shopping
Relationships: Allison & Ben & Diego & Number Five | The Boy & Klaus & Luther & Vanya, Background - Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Background - Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves/Vanya Hargreeves
Series: All Is Calm, All Is Bright [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034832
Kudos: 21
Collections: Harcest Ficmas 2020





	Devotee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leafrain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafrain/gifts).



For as long as Ben had known Vanya, she’d always told him, along with everyone else in her life, that they didn’t need to get her anything for her birthday or for holidays or anniversaries. (Ben also knew the  _ likely  _ cause for that thinking, but that was another issue for another day.)Her persistence at every occasion that she didn’t need, or want, a gift of any kind, not even donations to children, music, music for children, or children for music, in her name or anonymously were really, well appreciated wouldn’t be the best word, but it was evident by her reaction that she really didn’t think she should be receiving, nothing!

It was  _ this _ insistence that she didn’t want, need, or deserve any type of gift, that made getting her a  _ very special  _ Christmas gift, quite difficult for Ben.

There was a small group of people in their lives that he felt he could talk to, and get advice from, about what would be the  _ perfect _ present to give Vanya. Their group of five close friends, who were basically their family, Allison, Diego, Five, Klaus, and Luther, would be his best bet for any help as to what he should get Vanya.

His first visit was to Five, Vanya’s best friend for  _ basically _ their entire lives. It was surprisingly difficult to get a time where Five and Ben could meet without either of them having to work, or having any of the others,  _ especially Vanya _ , around. With how early Ben had started looking for the perfect gift for Vanya, it was in early November when Ben and Five had been able to get talk in private.

It was a mere six days after Halloween when Ben had Five meet him in the local coffee shop they frequented, The Umbrella Cafe. And to sweeten the deal before any talking started, Ben ordered a black coffee for Five, a cappuccino for himself, and made sure to remember, as well as write on his notepad, yes he brought a notepad, he’s being  _ thorough _ , to get Vanya a latte before leaving, before Five arrived. Thankfully, there must have been some kind of good fortune on his side, since just as Five settled into the seat across from him, the coffees arrived at the table.

“So,” Five started, taking a long sip from his coffee, “what is it that you wanted to talk about?”

A cold feeling of panic shot through him at the reasonable question. He hadn’t told Five, the  _ least _ festive and jolly of their group, that Ben had already started his Christmas shopping nearly two months early. “Oh, um.” Ben said, “Well, you see. You and Vanya have been friends for a long time. Best friends.”

Five sent him an odd look, asking, “You’re not asking for my blessing to marry Vanya, are you? That’s a very archaic mindset you’ve got there Ben, and not one I’d think Vanya would appreciate. And besides, I don’t think I have any actual authority to give it anyhow.”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that.” Ben quickly replied, silently thankful for the not so obvious jokes Five was making, “At least, not yet anyway. But, what I did want to ask you about was, and I don’t need your judgment about this Five, I just.” Ben took a calming breath, “I want to get Vanya the  _ perfect _ Christmas present this year because you know. But I just, I don’t know  _ what _ to get her.”

“And you thought,” Five said, taking another pause to sip his coffee, “that since I’m her best friend, I’d be able to help you with a gift idea?” Ben nodded. “In November?” Ben nodded again, albeit more embarrassed than before. There was a moment of no talking between the two, although it felt like nearly a millennium before Five said “Go to one of those antique shops, or a thrift store or two, and find a functioning record player.” He took a pause for a sip of his coffee, “And try finding a few records.”

Ben wrote down what Five had suggested verbatim, asking as he did, “Why a record player?”

“She used to have one, and it was her favorite possession.” Five said, a glare set on his features but Ben knew it wasn’t because of him, but Him, “But  _ He  _ broke it. Smashed it to pieces for ‘wasting time on frivolous activities’ and,” Five grimaced, holding back from saying more about  _ that _ and instead said, “I just think she’d appreciate it, but what do I know?” Five had to leave soon after, quickly finishing the coffee Ben had gotten him, ordering another to go before returning to his research.

Taking Five’s suggestion, Ben immediately went to one of the nearby refurbished stores and found the  _ perfect _ mint green record player, with a little wear on the edges, but still worked according to the store’s owner. (Who even let him test it before buying it.) And within a day’s shopping, Ben had the record player, as well as a few records that sounded like something Vanya might like, already purchased and hidden in the trunk of his car, at least, for now.

There were approximately four days after his talk with Five that Ben felt confident in his gift for Vanya, but as time drew on, he began to fret that she  _ wouldn’t _ like it, and would merely tell him she did. After a few days of worry, Ben went to Klaus, his best friend for many, many years, not quite as many as Vanya and Five had been, but still, a long time.

It was much easier to figure out a day and time to meet with  _ his _ best friend since Klaus worked (most of the time) as a freelance artist, so he had very flexible hours. Vanya, thankfully, hadn’t thought twice about Klaus showing up at their house at 9 am, on a Thursday, although he normally wasn’t at their house  _ that early _ in the day, but it was still a normal enough occurrence of Klaus showing up without notice, that she didn’t question it before going to work for the day.

Similar to like when he’d met with Five, he got a drink for the both of them, although this time it was tea, Klaus having chamomile and Ben with some black tea. They settled into Ben and Vanya’s living room, with Ben like he did with Five, danced around talking about what he needed or the advice he wanted before asking Klaus, “Do you have any ideas about what to get Vanya?” 

“Like, what I’m giving Vanya?” Klaus asked, obvious confusion on his face, “Or what you should give her?”

“What I should give her.” Ben answered, “But if you know what you’re getting her, let me know.” 

Klaus, like he typically did, launched into some story about a very weird adventure he had with $200, three of his former friends, an armless hooker, and a monkey in Vegas. Ben, unfortunately, already knew where this story was going, Klaus having told it several times, nearly every Christmas as well, and cut off his best friend, asking “Is there a point to all this Klaus?”

“Right!” Klaus stiffened, refocusing on what Ben had asked him, “I think you should, well, you know how much Vanya loves animals, right?” Ben nodded and Klaus continued, “Well, there was this thing, that I saw a few weeks ago about these llamas right? And-”

“I’m not getting Vanya a llama, Klaus.” Ben sighed.

Klaus wagged a finger at Ben, saying, “Ah, ah, ah, let me finish Benny-boy. Anyway, so I saw this thing at the bookstore-”

“You were at a bookstore?”

“When I was in line at the Starbucks in the bookstore,” Klaus amended, glaring at Ben’s shit-eating grin, “there were these little llama stuffed animals by some book. And on the tag of these little llama things, there was a note about adopting a llama and it being gifted to someone who needs it, like a farmer.”

That, surprisingly considering it was coming from Klaus, was actually a pretty good idea.

Ben asked, “How do you adopt the llama? Do you just buy the stuffed animal and some other organization does the llama buying-adopting-delivery part?”

“I think so,” Klaus said between sips of tea, “I didn’t read too much about it because I had  _ other things _ to attend to.”

“Right.” Ben replied, before diverting into some other random topic that he knew Klaus would be interested in talking about for hours. He waited until Klaus mentioned needing to get back to ‘work’ (Ben knew he’d just finished his last project a few days prior and nearly always waited a week before taking another.) before driving off to yet another store.

When he got to the bookstore, Barnes and Noble, making sure it was the same one that Klaus had said he’d been in, Ben quickly found the tower of stuffed animals that Klaus had been talking about. In addition to the llamas that Ben had expected to be there, there were also polar bears, koalas, elephants, orcas, and donkeys to choose between. Providing no context, considering it was for her it made sense not to, Ben quickly texted Vanya what her favorite animal was, and once Vanya pushed past her initial confusion from the seemingly out of the blue question, she told him it would be a kangaroo.

And since they had no kangaroos, Ben picked up one of the little koala bears from the tower, (they were similar enough right?) and made his way up to the register. A quick purchase later, there was another package waiting next to the wrapped box of the record player that Five has suggested. A little over a week ago, Ben didn’t have  _ one _ gift for Vanya, but now he’s gotta pick between  _ two  _ gifts, great.

Now with two very good gifts purchased, wrapped, and hidden for and from Vanya, Ben got some  _ additional _ advice from their friend, and Diego’s on again, off again, unofficial boyfriend Diego. It wasn’t even a week later, barely three days had passed before Ben was unexpectedly stopped by Diego at their biweekly group dinner. Evidently, Klaus had told Diego that he was in need of gift ideas for Vanya.

Klaus and Allison were keeping Vanya, Luther, and Five all occupied enough with some theatrical retelling of an apparent incident that happened during their weekly manicure appointment, while Diego pulled Ben out to Allison and Luther’s back patio. “Couples cooking class.” Diego hissed, taking a glance behind them as if they were being followed.

“What?” Ben asked.

“For Christmas, for Vanya.” Diego said, not quite explaining, “Klaus said you were in need of ideas for a Christmas present for Vanya, and she likes cooking right?” She didn’t. “And chicks love doing little couples classes things. It’s perfect.” Ben nodded along, not quite agreeing with Diego’s suggestion, but, it did give him an idea.

This was how the next day Ben spent a solid hour perusing the shelves and aisles of Target, picking out a few of movies that Vanya had mentioned liking, several boxes of candy, a cute little penguin with a Santa hat (which may have been a dog toy but irrelevant), a small wicker basket, and two bottles of her favorite merlot. Ben assembled the little gift basket on a night that Vanya had a ‘girl’s night’ planned with Allison, and put the carefully packaged basket, sans the wine bottles since he didn’t want them to freeze by chance in his car, into the trunk of his car with the other two possible gifts. His trunk was pretty much half full of possible gifts for Vanya at this point. He  _ really _ needed to pick one.

But of course, as fate (and Ben’s nerves) would have it, he  _ still wasn’t sure _ if he had the perfect gift. Already having three gifts, two more than he’d intended to get and still not entirely sure which would be the best to give Vanya, Ben went to Luther. His talk with Luther was relatively quick, and what Luther suggested was evidently something he’d already been considering to get  _ for someone else _ , obviously.

Honestly, what Luther suggested was both cute and expected because of his interest in space and the stars. So when Luther suggested he should get a star map from their first date. Ben asked Luther, firstly how he knew about them, and secondly where he could find them. Luther sent him a link to a website he’d found them on. At first when looking at them, Ben didn’t think it would be something he’d get, at least, not now.

But evidently, Ben’s impulsivity continued on later that night when he ordered the star maps for their first kiss, when they became official, their first date, and when they moved in together, deciding he’d gift the set, which was set to arrive two weeks before Christmas. Ben just kept digging himself a bigger hole with each purchase.

Two weeks before Christmas. It was two weeks before Christmas, the star maps had arrived safely, tucked into Ben’s truck with the other three gifts. He’d still been yet to choose one. He  _ needed _ whichever one he picked to be perfect. With four gifts, all very good, all ones seeming to be things Vanya would love, Ben, of course, was still unsure, and asked Allison, their friend,  _ and _ Luther’s wife, for her thoughts. 

Allison had apparently heard from Luther and Klaus that he was looking for gift ideas, and after pretending to be upset that he’d asked all the guys before asking her, Allison, like Luther had, immediately had a perfect sounding gift. Mentioning that Vanya had, on several occasions, mentioned that Beauty and The Beast had been one of her favorite movies, and pulling up Pinterest on her phone, she showed Ben something that had been called a galaxy glass rose, which was  _ beautiful _ , and looked similar to the rose from the movie. Needless to say, but before Ben had left Allison and Luther’s house, again, he’d ordered the rose with express shipping.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, those two weeks he had until Christmas turned into Christmas was tomorrow, and Ben had five gifts to pick between. There was the record player, the koala bear, the gift basket, the star maps, and the glass rose. He spent so much time trying to figure out which gift would be the best, that he was practically out of time to pick one.

So what did Ben do? He gifted all five of them to Vanya. Not only was he giving Vanya five gifts because he couldn’t pick one. He was giving Vanya, someone who  _ always _ said she didn’t need  _ a  _ gift, five different gifts. 

Their friend group had started a tradition of rotating who’s house they’d spend holidays at, and Christmas was at Ben and Vanya’s. So, on Christmas morning, Ben and Vanya hosted breakfast as Five, Allison, Luther, Klaus, and Diego arrived on their own (Five) or in pairs (you know), Ben bouncing with nerves, still. Once breakfast was finished (it was more like brunch, but details) their group moved into their living room where there was a shockingly large gift pile, nearly 50 gifts, waiting underneath it.

(If Ben had been paying attention, he would’ve noticed that Vanya also was buzzing with anxiety  _ and _ that all of their friends had knowing looks on their faces.)

As they steadily dwindled the mass of gifts under the tree, Ben was more and more stressed about Vanya opening his gifts to her. And he’d been yet to open her’s to him. Ben had managed to find a rather large box, it had been one of the boxes for their nightstands, and barely fit the five items into the box then wrapped it and slid it behind the back of the tree. And because of its position around the tree, that was why the box was the second to last opened.

When Vanya  _ did _ open his gift, she looked genuinely touched and surprised by the various items he’d gotten for it. And based on the reactions he could see from the others, no one had expected him to  _ actually get five different gifts _ merely because they’d (mostly) been suggested. But he didn’t dwell on their reactions for long, much rather focusing on Vanya’s. 

He hadn’t noticed when Vanya grabbed a very small box from the underside of the tree, what appeared to be the very last gift from under it. He pulled the wrapping paper off of the little box, revealing a black velvet box. His eyes flickered over to Vanya who was giving him a rather excited smile as he pulled the velvet box open, finding a silver band. When he looked over at Vanya again, she’d moved from sitting next to him to kneeling in front of him on one knee asking, “Ben Muller, will you marry me?”

And he, of course, said, “Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, Update survey if you're interested -> https://forms.gle/kj4UBqMeUThavmnx6


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